


best of days

by amonkeysue



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Birthday, Domesticity, F/M, Fluff, Short & Sweet, Sort of baby fic, emphasis on the fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:27:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24815323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amonkeysue/pseuds/amonkeysue
Summary: A little glimpse into two of Clint's birthdays a year apart and the differences in his and Natasha's life on each one.
Relationships: Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov
Comments: 10
Kudos: 52





	best of days

**Author's Note:**

> I sort of imagined this in a MCU based AU world, but also definitely can imagine it in other verses! Interpret as you will!
> 
> This started as a last minute ficlet idea that I wanted to do for Clint's Matt Fraction assigned birthday that got delayed a day thanks to life, and then I remembered that Father's Day is right around the corner and I haven't actually written anything with Katie yet for sharing! Hence opting to combine the two into one idea for tooth aching fluff :)

They knew it had been a risk, actually making a loose plan for something to do together for his birthday.

Still, up until Natasha got an emergency mission straight from Fury at the lovely hour of three in the morning the day of his birthday, it had seemed like they might actually be able to go through with it.

“Y’know,” Clint sleepily complained from where he had just rolled over on the bed to watch as Natasha changed into her suit, “he could at least try to remember my birthday and that it’d honestly be a great gift to not call you out on a mission that’ll probably take all of it.”

“You’re assuming that he knows we’re together,” Natasha remarked with a glance back at him over her shoulder, faint amusement in her expression.

Clint immediately raised both eyebrows. “It’s Fury. Of course he’s figured it out.”

A small chuckle escaped her. “Give us some credit, Barton, we are experts at covert affairs.” She smirked at him. “Not that you’ve been able to keep from giving me awestruck looks day in and day out for forever now.”

“Can you blame me?” he replied with an affectionate grin.

She picked up her go bag of gear and sat beside him on the edge of the bed with a smile, leaning over as he propped himself up on both elbows towards her. “I don’t like to be so self centered,” she teasingly whispered into a kiss, brushing a hand through the back of his hair as she pulled back. “I’ll do my best to be back as soon as I can and at least call you if I can’t in time, but rain check?”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “We should’ve known actually planning something would immediately get screwed.”

Natasha supportively smiled. “We’ll make it count when we can.”

He caught her hand as she started to stand. “Tasha, before you say it I know you always are, but be careful, yeah?”

Her smile widened. “I love you too.”

True to form, she came back without so much as a scratch in the late evening, just in time for a short celebration with the cake they had bought the day before and to gift him a new pair of jeans, an anniversary copy of _Dune_ , and a prototype for a suction tip arrow she had talked the development team into starting.

Clint broke into an excited laugh at the arrow. “Oh, this is gonna open up so many possibilities.”

“Shoot responsibly,” she teased.

He gave an exaggerated wink. “Don’t I always?”

\--

A year later, they were both still getting unexpectedly woken up at three in the morning on his birthday, albeit to the sound of a wake up cry rather than an emergency call.

Clint held his arm out to stop Natasha from getting up. “I’ll get her, try to go back to sleep.”

“You sure you don’t want to sleep in today?” she murmured back.

“Nah,” he reassured while moving off the bed and unable to keep from grinning as he spoke, “this way I get baby cuddles.”

Natasha tiredly laughed. “Give her a kiss for me.”

“Will do.”

Moving as quietly as possible was second nature after so many years, and Clint still wasn’t sure if it was just baby attentiveness or Katie already following in her parent’s footsteps that had her recognizing him almost as soon as he came through the door, her cry softening.

“Hey,” he brightly greeted while coming over to the crib, “I hear you. I’m here.” He scooped her up into his arms with a little bounce and beamed at her. “Yeah, you just wanted to be right on top of wishing me a happy birthday, huh?”

Katie’s expression was still slightly screwed up as she cried.

“Okay,” he hummed, lightly bouncing her in his arms as he walked to the kitchen. “Less talk, more bottle. Just give me a second, baby girl.”

By now he was an expert in one hand prep of a bottle and quickly had it ready for her.

It was always going to be adorable watching her reach to hold the bottle. The grasping and actually holding skills would still be a ways off, but coming in at close to three months she could at least relatively try to raise her head to it.

Being able to eat also prompted Katie to calm enough to stare up at him. She’s got his eyes, though he swears that in the right light there are flecks of green in there to take after Natasha.

He grins down at Katie as she gulps in the formula. “Now I’ve got to decide what we talk about after you’re done eating, huh? Recommendations for the new SHIELD recruits? When we tell Aunt Kate that we are so close to convincing your mom into getting a dog?”

Katie paused for a second before returning to sucking on the bottle.

Clint chuckled. “Good idea, we’ll start thinking about names and then tell Aunt Kate.”

He went silent as she continued to eat for a while longer before giving up on the bottle, prompting him to stick a burp cloth over his shoulder and shift her to lay against it as he went back for the rocking chair in her room.

She made a content sound and tightly grasped the front of his sleep shirt as he burped her.

The shirt had definitely been a good idea, her nails were in need of a trim.

“Oh!” he quietly said after a moment before ducking his head to press a kiss to the top of hers. “Momma wanted me to pass that along.”

Her hair was coming in surprisingly thick, definitely taking after Natasha with bright red curls.

Clint knew he was biased, but she was the cutest thing in the universe.

She gave a hiccup and blinked at herself with what might have been a slight furrow to her brow.

“There we go,” he murmured before thoughtfully pausing. “But we said we were gonna think about names, so… we could go classic, something like Buddy, Spot, or Sparky. I’m almost tempted to suggest Fido just for fun, but I don’t think Mommy will go for that. We need something with a little more character. Something like Scout or Lassie?”

Katie broke into another hiccup.

“Mmm, yeah, hard to name the dog before we’ve got a better idea what we’re getting.” He went quiet for a moment to adjust her up a little higher against his shoulder. “But whatever we get, we’re gonna be so lucky. And there will be so many pictures of you and the dog. So. Many.”

It was another several moments before Katie lifted her head and yawned, sleepily smacking her lips together as she finished.

“Maybe a little too bright and early,” Clint lightheartedly hummed. “Still, thanks for this, Katie.” He smiled as she looked up at him. “I wouldn’t give this up for the world.”


End file.
